Category What Is Truth

Christmas time is here, and as with many of the past Christmases, some well-meaning, and other self-righteous, professors of Christian faith begin to slander and condemn the saints of Christ who chose to celebrate the birth of the Saviour on and around December 25. They regularly repeat the false accusation that Christmas (and Easter in its turn) are pagan festivals reappropriated by Christians to somehow clean up the paganism and give Christians something better to do at that feast time.

The second accusation is that all of the symbols of Christmas are pagan...

1 Thus says YHWH, ‘Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I sent away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2 For what reason, (when) I came, was there no man; I called, and no one answered? Is My hand truly short from redemption, or is no power in Me to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I shall drain a sea, I make rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and die for thirst.

3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and sackcloth I shall place (as) their covering.

4 My most sovereign YHWH gives Me the tongue of the learned, to know to speak a timely word to the faint...

What is orthodoxy, but a decision made by some group of men concerning what is to be considered acceptable doctrine.

Every religious sub-group has a different collection of what is considered to be “orthodox”, and everything else is considered to be heretical.

Christians are not bound to orthodoxy; we are bound to Christ, and to believe His Holy Scripture, regardless of what anyone else says is true, correct, or ‘acceptable’. In every Christian denomination or sub-group, and every Christian cult, there are tenets that are Biblically consistent and those that contradict God’s Word...

Mt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mt 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Mt 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mt 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mt 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in thekingdom of heaven.

Nothing is of greater importance than to know the true God and to know what is required for us to be on good terms with the true God. The only way to know God and to know what God has said concerning our condition and relationship with God, is to study from the Bible what God has revealed concerning our sin and His salvation.

As with every discussion of what we are to believe, the answer to what constitutes the message of the gospel of salvation must begin with what the Bible says about the gospel, so we will look first at those passages in which the Bible writers used the specific word “gospel”...

Some people say Christians are guilty of judging those outside of passing judgment on non-Christians because they don’t share our faith. I am not qualified to judge anyone, as a sinful person who deserves condemnation as much as anyone else, but I am qualified to communicate Truth, and Truth necessarily applies to everyone by its nature.

A lot of people have been told that all religions are “the same” and should therefore be considered equivalent, but they don’t realize that the different religions teach very different things about God and man’s relationship to God, as well as giving mutually exclusive answers to the key questions of life: the origin, purpose, meaning, and destiny of humankind...

“Come unto me all who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus was speaking to the crowd; His invitation is to ‘all’.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn of me…” something they must choose to do for themselves.

My Strong’s concordance notes re: 1014 are interesting: “will; to will, to be willing, to be disposed, minded, intend.” But when you look at the other ‘will’ 2309 thelo / theleo etc., it says “to determine; as an active option from subjective impulse” and calls attention to 1014, stating 1014 ‘properly denotes passive acquiescence in objective considerations”. In other words, the 1014 “will” found in 11:27 has the sense of allowing something to come about...

Or Can we “Sanctify” Acts or Ideas belonging to False Religious Systems to Make Them Suitable for Worship of the Lord God or a Part of Christian Life Practice?

Throughout Scripture, God commands His people to be ‘holy’, separate from the world and sin. False teachings and false practices have plagued the church since the beginning, evidenced in the letters from Paul, Peter, John, and Jude, so it is not unique to today. The Holy Spirit ensured we would have no reason to question what response might be appropriate to the inclusion of pagan practices or philosophies in Christian life and worship. God admonished the Israelites frequently that they were to absolutely reject everything originating from pagan practice, incorporating none of it in their lives or the worship of Almighty God...

Do you have to get everything right to be a Christian? No, but there are some things you cannot get wrong and still be a Christian. For instance, you must believe in God in order to be a Christian. But you can’t believe in just any god. You must believe in the God Who has revealed Himself through His Word to men, through His prophets, through the Law, and through Jesus Christ. If you believe in a false god, you are not a Christian, no matter how sincere you are or how well you behave. [1]

Then there is the matter of Truth. You must believe that truth exists, and that it is knowable, because Jesus declared that the Father requires men to worship Him in spirit and in truth. If there is no truth, or it cannot be known, we are unable to obey God’s clear requirement for worship. [2]

The fruit of the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” is the knowledge of good and evil. Until consuming this ‘fruit’, man knew only good, as he communed with God, the Source of all goodness, and continued in fellowship with Him by submission.[i]

Disobedience brought the knowledge of evil. Eve was deceived and persuaded by a smooth argument that what God had forbidden was ‘good’ for her. Instead of trusting the God Who created her and would know what was good, Eve doubted, and trusted the lie. Adam was disobedient, unfaithful to the God Who spoke to him from the beginning, in Whom Adam ‘lived, and moved, and had his being”. When the commandment was rejected, sin was birthed and Adam died.[ii]